Today I bring back this series with my family’s most recent “bilingual moments” and funny conversations. (Be sure to share your recent funny conversations in comments!)

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Tracy: Whatcha doing cutie pants?Carlos: Not much—Tracy: I was talking to Chico.

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Carlos: Look, the guy at the Latino market gave me the merchant copy. [Shows me a receipt]Tracy: Why is this the American copy? Did you want it in Spanish?Carlos: What?Tracy: Why are you calling this an American copy?Carlos: No, I said MERCHANT copy.Tracy: Oh, it sounded like you said ‘MURICAN copy.

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“Mommy help! Get him off me! He’s hurting me with jalapeño breath!”

– My older son being pinned down by my younger son who was breathing into his face after eating pickled jalapeños

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Tracy: Hey, this book says Mexican women don’t shave their legs. I’m moving to Mexico.Carlos: Um, that sounds… anticuado. How old is that book?Tracy: Published…(turns pages)… 1972. Oh.

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Carlos: I’m going to cut the grass.Tracy: It’s Sunday. That’s bad karma.Carlos: But it needs to be done.Tracy: Ay ve vos.Carlos: Well I can’t now cause you jinxed me.

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Tracy: Can you grab me a wad of paper towels?Carlos: Huh?Tracy: Can you grab me a wad of paper towels?Carlos: A watt?Tracy: A wad!Carlos: What is that?Tracy:Tanate! Can you grab me a tanate of paper towels?Carlos: Why didn’t you just say that to begin with?

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13 year old: Hey Daddy, have you heard of that singer Macklemore?Carlos: Yeah, he’s from Soyapango.13 year old: You say everyone is from Soyapango!

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Carlos: Ooo, you got Abuelita chocolate!Tracy: Yup.13 year old son: Who’s the old lady on the package?Tracy: Abuelita, of course.13 year old: Oh.Tracy: Hey Carlos, isn’t that the same lady in the Pedro Infante movies?Carlos: Yup, that’s Nana Tomasita.13 year old: Let me guess, she’s from Soyapango.Carlos: Nope. She’s from Chalate.

For quite awhile I’ve wanted to visit Café Mayorga in Wheaton Mall in Maryland. Finally we went this past weekend to have a cup of coffee and a little something sweet. Here are a few photos from our visit.

We drank little Cubano coffees but Carlos had to add a lot of milk and sugar. Even though he added a mountain of milk and sugar he told me it was still too strong for him. (It’s espresso! I’m not sure what he was expecting.) With my coffee I enjoyed an alfajor and Carlos ate an elephant ear. For the most part Carlos used his coffee to dip his elephant ear into, but as for me, I really liked both my coffee and cookie.

Our visit to “Café Latino” turned out a little expensive but I understand it’s for the quality and I like to support businesses that treat their sources, partners and workers in Latin America well – and Café Mayorga does. If you pass by the area, I recommend you stop by for a little authentic coffee and a treat.

It seems that each year there are more Salvadoran video bloggers on YouTube showing how to make delicious Salvadoran recipes and ensuring the Salvadoran culture isn’t lost, even for the Salvadorans living abroad. Today I want to give a “shout out” to the best Salvadoran video bloggers.

Parenting is one of the biggest challenges there is, and bilingual parenting can be twice as hard. Here are 10 animated gifs only parents raising bilingual kids will understand. Laugh, cry, be entertained – I know you feel me.

#1. When your bilingual child is just a baby everything is new and awesome. Mixing the languages together is totally normal and totally adorable. So your reaction when your baby speaks Spanglish is something like:

#2. Fast forward 10 years though and your child is still not fluent. Your child’s Spanglish at this stage of the game may have become somewhat less enchanting.

#3. But then one day your child says their first curse word in Spanish, (and you know they learned it from you.)

Hey, at least they’re speaking Spanish.

#4. And then comes that magical age when they get to pick a foreign language at school. The child you’re raising English/Spanish bilingual tells you they want to take… French.

#5. Okay, okay. We must embrace all language learning. It’s fine, they can learn French. Maybe they’ll be trilingual you say to yourself. But then they ask for help with their French homework and you discover your mouth will only pronounce French words following Spanish-language rules so you’re completely unhelpful.

#6. At some point you realize hey, we’re not speaking enough Spanish at home, so you try the famous “I won’t acknowledge you unless you speak Spanish” tactic.

Usually I don’t become obsessed with television shows, but I’m totally obsessed with Jane the Virgin. Each week I can’t wait for the next episode. Both my sons love it too. I haven’t loved a show this much since Herederos del Monte. The actors are all brilliant, the cast is diverse, there’s a good mix of English and Spanish and the plot is perfectly complicated. I have only watched three episodes and I’ve laughed so much and even been touched to the point of tears too.

Here are three of my favorite lines so far from the show. (What are yours?)

“Inhala, exhala, inhala, exhala.” – Rogelio

“I needed a croqueta… I would offer you some but I’m really enjoying it and if I give you a bite I may resent you in a very serious way.” – Jane

I realized something. I realized when I see the colored leaves of autumn I feel two things. First I feel full of happiness because it’s one of the most beautiful things in the world and I feel blessed to see it happen. All year I await this brief moment to see the change in the trees. But beneath that happiness is a strong sadness to know that the days are short and soon the leaves will fall, disappearing in the wind. I feel happy for the moment in front of me, but anguish because I know it won’t last forever.

And I feel the same to see my sons growing into men.

It doesn’t matter how tightly you hold onto those beautiful leaves or those beautiful children. They change. The leaves dry out and lose their color. Your children grow up. It’s natural that this realization should make one feel sadness, but let it also remind you to enjoy the moment. Maybe it’s cliche, but sometimes cliches exist because there is no greater truth. Life is fleeting. Love what you love with all your heart.